The week before I was totally fine, I exercised 3 days.
On Tuesday I was in the shower and felt a tightness in my chest, short of breath, face white, lips gray, slight tingling in left arm pulse rate at 62 instead of 85. So 15 min. after getting out of the shower I called 911.

It wasnt a sharp pain, there was no pain at all really. But I just felt really bad, like if you have the flu, you just feel bad.

I got my cholesterol tested 3 years ago and it was high, I adjusted my diet and take pills. But none of that mattered because its been high all my life probably. Its because the liver makes too much, not really my diet.

I never passed out, until they put me asleep in the operating room. Just before that a woman asked me my name and why I was there. I was glad she asked so that way I got to keep my kidneys

8" long battle scar, with 2 shorter on my leg where they got the new veins.

Actually I took it really calm. There are some social things that stress me to the max, but this was not so bad. Typical computer nerd.

It seems to be totally taken care of now. Just need to recover. The doctor said that I was recovering as fast and well as possible.

These bypasses last 15-20 years he said, so I'll need something done again in the future. But really the surgery was no big deal. The thing that has hurt the most was getting a catheter inserted into my penis! TWICE! because the first time the tube was too large. That was the only thing that made me scream.

On saturday till now the only pain med I am on is (2) 500mg capsules of Tylenol, Which is crazy, I would have expected much more pain. But really there is none now. Just some discomfort of having the scars.

So I would really suggest to everyone, to have your cholesterol tested. It doesnt matter what age you are. Maybe these days everyone gets that, but you should ask to make sure.

Just out of curiosity, do you usually exercise, are you overweight? I know with the right genes, this shit can happen to just about anyone. I think heart and cardiovascular diseases are the no.1 killer in Finland at the least.

Yeah I've been exercising on and off for 10 years. Nothing super hard just crunches and pushups etc... being a bit toned helps.
6 foot tall, 160 pounds, so tall and skinny.
My mom had a heart attack at 45 and died at 55. So there is that. But she was overweight and a smoker, so I figured I might avoid all this.

The emergency room hospital I went to first contacted my doctor to ask for volunteers to be in a commercial about how the hospital has grown and doesnt suck anymore ( which it did 10 years ago). He reccomended me.

I asked him why me, people have heart attacks all the time. He said I really had a 40% blood clot in a 60%plaque blockage in the main artery to my heart. The people who have this condition only survive 5% of the time. So I was special.

We started at 6:30 am (which I didnt know even existed) and finished around 12 noon. We where in a small town street in front of an old theater and bank. There was a large "MORE" sign, each letter was 8 foot tall and 3 feet thick and positioned in the street.

There were about 8 actors for the cardiac stuff. They shot at other locations for other services they do. We each had close ups with lines to say and there was a group shot of us milling around the moar MORE sign.

I was the youngest of course. Many of the others had a very hard time saying the lines. I went last and I totally nailed it! After we finished the first line the director said "Where were you an hour ago!" one of the lighting guys said "You've done this before!" I said no, I've just watched a lot of tv

I read my lines while sitting on the giant "R".

At the end, the advert people were very happy, each of them made a point of telling me how good I was. The marketing person from the hospital rushed up to me and said "You saved the commercial! can I give you a hug?".

I'll be getting a DVD of it some time. The ads will run next year locally. I might be doing some radio ads too.

Well it was just a volunteer thing, no money. Just a way of saying thank you to the hospital. I was really hoping they didnt need me. I was very hesitant about saying yes, but after they did the preliminary interviews they liked me much more than the others and twisted my arm just enough to make me say yes.

To tell you the truth, that's a bit of a wakeup call for me. My overall health has been sliding steadily downhill since I started school four years ago. I'm smoking more, eating worse, less active and am about 60 pounds heavier and i feel it. I never really think about it, but hearing your story... shit... I'm going to die before I'm 40 like this.

Two months ago I told an internet friend of mine that I game with about all this. We met in person once and he looked like your typical overweight computer tech guy. It scared the crap out of him. He was at least 300 pounds. A month later he told me he had been hitting the gym, checking the cholesterol and he lost 80 pounds!

So I dont mind talking about it if it helps to poke a few people into action.

Tzan - Oh man, you're way too young for that stuff. Glad you're ok. Did the doctor say how you can prevent future attacks? It doesn't sound like you were living an unhealthy lifestyle, so what else can you do?

Brian - Don't you have some kind of condition that prevents you from doing certain things? Are you ok now? You haven't posted much and I haven't seen any new artwork or music from you for a while now.

Brian - Don't you have some kind of condition that prevents you from doing certain things? Are you ok now? You haven't posted much and I haven't seen any new artwork or music from you for a while now.

Yeah, I have a chronic pain thing, and one of the meds I take for it causes weight gain. I'm not going to blame that though, because if I stopped eating so much junk and started exercising even a little, I'd probably be fine.

Pain-wise, I'm much better than I was a couple years ago. My girl and I just moved into a place that's big enough for me to have my own little studio, so hopefully I'll be able to sequester myself and get some art done sometime soon.

Thanks for asking, by the way._________________brian.prince|light.comp.paint

Brian - Don't you have some kind of condition that prevents you from doing certain things? Are you ok now? You haven't posted much and I haven't seen any new artwork or music from you for a while now.

Yeah, I have a chronic pain thing, and one of the meds I take for it causes weight gain. I'm not going to blame that though, because if I stopped eating so much junk and started exercising even a little, I'd probably be fine.

Pain-wise, I'm much better than I was a couple years ago. My girl and I just moved into a place that's big enough for me to have my own little studio, so hopefully I'll be able to sequester myself and get some art done sometime soon.

Thanks for asking, by the way.

That's good to hear. I look forward to you getting back on the horse. Your Sierra Vista track is still one of my favorites. A shame if you don't do more.

I need to lose about 15 pounds myself. After we're done with the construction of the new house, we'll have a dedicated exercise room with a dedicated TV--I think that will help motivate me more. I'd also be able to drum far more than I did before since the new studio will allow me to get crazy without anyone complaining.

One thing I found out in the last year or so is that when I used to pig out on junk food is when I'm watching a movie or a TV show. I generally don't like to do it when I'm in front of the computer since I hate getting food on my fingers and then try to type. Now I've developed a habit of ALWAYS practicing an instrument when I watch anything of a decent length--be it practicing my drumming rudiments on a practice pad, practicing bass or guitar, or practicing keyboard fingering (with the 2-octave MIDI controller on my desk). All of these are portable enough where I can put them on my lap even when I'm watching something in the living room with Elena. Fortunately my practicing doesn't bother her while we watch stuff together (the bass and guitar are never plugged in during those times). So the side-effect is that since I hate getting food on my fingers when I practice, I end up not eating any crap when I watch anything. It's killing three birds with one stone--I hone my instrument skills and avoid junk food, while enjoying a movie or a TV show.

The only thing to watch out for is that eventually the new veins in the bypass will fail in 20 years and will need stents or another surgery. So I'm really good to go for 20 years.

Hopefully they'll find ways to NOT have to do a bypass and still get those veins going, or develop new ones without opening you up. I don't think you like the idea of having to deal with it all again with 20 mores years of aging added to the process.

Hey Brain. Have you ever tried to do yoga or some other kind of meditation thing, maybe even Zen. I know, I know,...theres alot of stupid cliches about that in the western world which arise from wrong hopes and bad will. However if you are serious about it maybe this could help you along the way. Even if it makes you feel better 1% it's worth it. It might take you alot of time and energy, however I think this could be another way to help you along. I don't know much about that kind of pain you have, and maybe I am all wrong. I know it's easy to talk about such things if it isn't about you. Still I believe you could give it a try. We all know that body and brain are one. Treat them like that! Anyway, don't stress yourself. I wish you good luck and hope you will get over this some time! Cheers mate, miss your art!